NEWSLETTERFA O V I E T N A M - E M E R G E N C Y D R O U G H T E D I T I O N

NOVEMBER 2015 - JULY 2016

FAO Viet Nam is taking a leading role in response to a Vietnamese Government call for help in dealing with the country’s most severe drought in more than 90

years.

The 2015/16 El Niño weather phenomenon has left many parts of the country, especially the southern Mekong Delta, South Central and Central Highlands regions, in a state of emergency. Since mid-2015, 52 of 63 provinces – more than 83 per cent of the country – have been affected by drought, with 18 severely affected as of July, 2016. At the peak of the emergency in April, an estimated 1.75 million people had lost their incomes due to the impact of the drought on the agriculture sector, 1.1 million were in need of food assistance and the estimated economic losses amounted to USD671 million and are still increasing. A total of 659 245 hectares (including rice, vegetables, fruit trees, perennial crops, seedlings) have been damaged, 6 529 animals have died and 68 810ha of aquaculture and fisheries have been damaged.

Crop damage has been severe in many vulnerable communities, with 60-90 per cent of planted crops harmed in drought-affected provinces.

In response to this unprecedented emergency, the Vietnamese Government in mid-March 2016 requested FAO’s help as part of international assistance to respond to the drought and saltwater intrusion. To underscore the magnitude and scale of the emergency, it was the first time the Government had called for international support since the historic 1999 floods, which affected seven central provinces.

“The Vietnamese Government has led the way to respond to this crisis and FAO is committed to utilize its

strategic comparative advantages to target those most critically affected by the drought and in urgent need of immediate, lifesaving support,” said Jong-Ha Bae, FAO Representative in Viet Nam.

An FAO-led in-depth assessment mission to 54 villages was conducted in May to examine the agriculture, food security and livelihood needs of the Central Highlands (Dak Lak and Gia Lai provinces), Mekong Delta (Ben Tre and Kien Giang) and South Central (Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan) regions ravaged by the drought and saltwater intrusion. Key recommendations emerged from the analysis of the data gathered on immediate, medium and long-term needs or interventions in various sectors including crops, livestock, fisheries, food security and livelihoods that informed FAO’s section of the joint UN-Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development humanitarian and recovery programme.

With support from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, FAO in August will start the distribution of seeds and fertilizers to the most affected households in Ca

FAO RAPIDLY RESPONDS TO SEVERE DROUGHT IN VIET NAM

Song Ha Nguyen, Assistant FAO Representative (Programme) interviewing drought affected household during assessment. ©FAO

Drought stories continued next page...

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Mau, Gia Lai, Kien Giang and Ninh Thuan provinces to restore livelihoods and strengthen food security. FAO is also developing a pilot drought index in Ninh Thuan to improve agricultural drought monitoring and early warning systems and a project to restock poultry, provide animal health care and training on bio safety to the 54 villages most affected by the drought.

The severity of the drought and FAO’s response came under the international spotlight when it accompanied the UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson to the field in May in drought-affected Ben Tre province, where he stressed the importance of agricultural adaptation to climate change as

well as use of FAO’s technical expertise to mitigate the long-term impacts of climate change.

Recently, the rainfall has significantly increased in the Mekong Delta, South-East region and Central Highlands, providing much needed relief to people, livelihoods and ecosystems.

However, impact for affected households is still lingering, particularly in terms of reduced income, water for production and other resources, increased debts, reduced soil fertility and risk of malnutrition. Farmers that have replanted rice and other crops are currently in a lean period until harvests commence in October or later.

According to the National Centre for Meteorological Forecasting, El Niño has a 75 percent likelihood to transition into La Niña from September onward, potentially bringing heavy rainfall and floods to the already drought-affected areas. In response, FAO stands ready to help protect the harvest production of farmers already depleted of their assets, in debt and relying on external assistance and continue to support them to fully recover their food security, livelihoods and resilience to future shocks.

“FAO will continue its support to ensure rural communities, especially the most vulnerable, in Viet Nam are better prepared to respond to such disasters and become more resilient to ongoing climate change-related challenges,” said Jong-Ha Bae.

Woman tops up a depleted water tank ©FAO

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Human cost of the drought emerges

Chamale Cup and his family (pictured above) would normally be busy at this time of the year preparing land to plant once the first rains arrive in Ninh Thuan

province, already one of Viet Nam’s most impoverished.

Instead, Viet Nam’s most severe drought in more than 90 years has left Chamale’s family and more than 1.75 million people in 18 provinces facing the loss of their livelihoods.

For Chamale, the drought is set to result in a second consecutive rice harvest failure, while it has already claimed the family’s two cows, half its goats and chickens.He told a FAO-led assessment mission in May, the second completed in the worst affected areas currently in a state of emergency due in part to the 2015/16 El Niño weather phenomenon, the family had been forced to take out a loan to get by.

“If we are not able to pay the loan back, we will lose half of our irrigated land as it was used as collateral to receive credit,” said the Ray Lay ethnic minority man, who admitted he may be forced to migrate to a nearby city to look for construction work if the drought continued. Further south in the Mekong Delta, 49-year-old farmer Ms. Nguyen Thi Dam (pictured right) also faces some tough choices.

Last October, hard work saw her raise 40 ducks and 240 000 shrimp fingerlings within 2.6ha of cultivation fields. However, the FAO team found the drought had wiped out all her shrimp and 28 ducks within a month due to high

levels of saltwater intrusion and salinity in the usually bountiful Mekong Delta.

“Life is also becoming more and more difficult as we have no access to water for daily usage,” said Nguyen.

These personal insights into the human cost of the drought point to the increased vulnerabilities of people usually considered less prone to impacts of such disasters.

FAO led an in-depth assessment mission to 54 villages, in collaboration with World Food Programme, UN Women and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, examined the agriculture, food security and livelihoods needs of the Central Highlands, Mekong Delta and South Central regions.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Dam standing in front of her dried up land ©FAO

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Of all households interviewed, 40 percent had received some assistance from at least one source to compensate for losses from the ongoing drought, with the Vietnamese Government and charity groups as primary assistance deliverers.

The mission especially pointed out the increased vulnerabilities of people usually considered less prone to impacts of such disasters, as households’ capacity to cope with drought was largely dependent on capital ownership and financial resources. Of households not reached by external aid, small-scale and agriculture-based ones were found to be the most vulnerable. With limited human capital and technical resources, these poorer households have mortgaged land or borrowed cash to purchase agricultural inputs. Failure to harvest crops and generate income during the past two crop seasons have exposed them to an extreme scenario with limited coping capacity.

While FAO and its partners are working to support the worst affected communities to rebuild their food security and livelihoods, the almost certain occurrence of La Niña phenomenon in the coming months has the potential to destroy the gains accomplished and reset the affected communities into a humanitarian scenario unless the medium and long-term challenges caused by climate change are addressed and the resilience of communities strengthened in the long term.

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4 1. Focus Group Discussion with a group of male farmers in Mekong Delta

2. Barren land scorched by the drought

3. A farmer checking water salinity from a pond

4. FAO conducts a joint drought mission with ECHO and Save the Children

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Helping farmers adapt to climate change

FAO in Viet Nam has co-launched a new initiative to help farmers adapt to climate change by supporting its agriculture sector to produce

National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).

This initiative, part of the Integrating Agriculture in National Adaptation Plans Programme, is funded by the German Government to help Viet Nam and six other countries sharpen their adaptation responses to climate change. In Viet Nam, FAO and UNDP will support the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and related line agencies to help prioritize and implement adaptation strategies. These strategies will benefit local communities dependent on livelihoods from farming, fishing, and forestry-based products.

The three-year initiative will help identify policy gaps as well as opportunities to integrate key adaptation requirements for agriculture sector-based livelihoods into sectoral and cross-sectoral planning and budgeting processes. The aim is to identify and design systems that can better map risk, and track unavoidable loss and damage, including insurance and risk-sharing mechanisms. With a loss and damage provision vulnerable communities will be able to access external financing for reconstruction and recovery.

The inception workshop held in March, in Ha Noi, discussed key action points as well as efforts to tackle the drivers and impacts of climate change, and deliver sustainable and equitable development. Participants in the workshop were from FAO, UNDP, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other relevant ministries as well as the international organizations and related institutions.

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FAO supports agricultural mitigation on rice cultivationViet Nam’s ability to embrace climate-smart agriculture practices continues to be enhanced by FAO.

FAO representative in Viet Nam Jong-Ha Bae (pictured second left) has returned from a field visit impressed at an innovative pilot Measurement-Reporting-Verification (MRV) system for nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMA) for rice cultivation and improved gasifier cook stoves in Thai Binh province’s Phu Luong commune. This project was implemented from February 2016 as part of collaboration between FAO and IAE, which belong to NAMAs for “Enhancing NAMA readiness: Building Capacity in Integrated Food and Energy Systems (IFES) in Viet Nam” from 2013, with support from FAO, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the NAMAs management unit.

To take part in the project to respond to climate change and receive financial, technological support, MRV is necessary to attain benefits in reducing GHG emissions. MRV systems evaluate greenhouse gas emission reduction potential from national to local scales.

The pilot MRV system chosen for production conditions in Thai Binh was a System of Rice Intensification (SRI) on a 10ha field, integrated with gasifier cook stoves and biochar made from crop and rice residues.

The project has helped reduce consumption of fossil fuels, decrease applying inorganic fertilizer in rice cultivation as well as increased crop yields to develop sustainable agriculture and improve cultivation systems amid climate change.

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FAO Viet Nam - Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD)

FAO ECTAD ViET NAm wEbsiTE lAuNChED wiTh ANimAl hEAlTh AND ZOONOsis upDATEs

About the websiteFAO Viet Nam’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) Programme launched its new website where it will act as an animal health information platform to offer Transboundary Animal Disease information and ECTAD updates to all visitors.

What are the key features of this website?1.Stories from the field

a. Interesting stories from the fieldb. Press releasesc. Feature articlesd. Photo essays on exciting field missions, workshops and conferences in Viet Nam.

2.Disease situation updates a. Recent zoonotic diseases outbreaks in both animal health and human health sector within Viet Nam and

Southeast Asia region.b. Surveillance results from ECTAD and other FAO programmes, Department of Animal Health, Ministry of

Agriculture and Rural Development, and World Health Organization.

3.Publications 1. FAO technical documents (published guidelines, publications, and reports)2. Communication materials for general public (factsheet, infographics, and newsletter)3. The website offers customized information for visitors: government counterparts, donors, development

partners, journalists, academic researchers, general public.

4.Future events 1.Upcoming events and activities of FAO ECTAD Viet Nam.

About ECTAD Viet Nam ProgrammeThe ECTAD program was established early in 2006 to support the Viet Nam government in combatting the spread and entrenchment of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI H5N1). As the emergency situation subsided, the ECTAD Viet Nam Programme transitioned to address broader animal health, animal production, and food safety areas guided by shifting Viet Nam Government priorities. The disease prevention and control programme expanded to include other important diseases including rabies, foot and mouth disease (FMD), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), classical swine fever (CSF), and other influenza A viruses including H7N9 and H5N6, to name a few. Most recently, FAO is supporting One Health which aims to address human, animal and ecological health in a collaborative cross-sectoral and transdisciplinary manner.

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FAO ECTAD Viet Nam link: http://www.fao.org/in-action/ectad-vietnam

The North-West region of Viet Nam, in particular Son La province, is blessed with natural elements to farm on and off-season vegetables and fruit throughout the

year thanks to its climate and specific soil. However, many farmers in this region focus on harvesting rice, corn and cassava, bringing them lower economic benefits and one of the highest poverty rates in the region.

FAO Viet Nam has recognized this strong potential to improve food security and farmers’ earnings and joined hands with UNIDO Viet Nam, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Son La People’s Committee to organize a two-day workshop ‘Farmer organization and market linkages in the value chain for the production of safe vegetables and fruit in the northwest region’ in Moc Chau district. This workshop created a platform for stakeholders to have an open discussion and seek ways for further improvements.

During the workshop, participants exchanged and discussed experiences, ideas and analysis to provide solutions to build a

long-term strategy to develop production of safe vegetables and fruit.

Under the UN joint programme to support the National Target Programme on the New Rural Development, with a view to promote mutual interests and cooperation in the new phase of National Target Programme - FAO, UNIDO and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research signed an Aide Memoire with Son La People’s Committee during the workshop to underline their commitment and support to government and local provinces. This Aide Memoire will provide a basis to explore opportunities to formulate joint activities to support the improvement and supply capacity of key agricultural commodities, including vegetables and fruit, by applying effective technologies along the value chain and strengthen the capacity of agricultural cooperatives and farmers’ groups in Son La province.

Effective farming and better income for North-West farmers

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An FAO-supported kick-off workshop was held in Ha Noi to enhance bio-energy sustainability in Viet Nam through use of Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) indicators.

FAO is a founding partner of GBEP, an international initiative established in 2006 that has developed a science-based, technically sound and highly relevant set of indicators to inform policy-makers and stakeholders in countries seeking to develop bio-energy sectors to meet national sustainable development goals.

To ensure these indicators can be practical tools to support policy-making towards sustainable development of bio-energy, the FAO project GCP/GLO/554/

GER (BMU) “Building capacity for enhancing bioenergy sustainability through the use of the GBEP indicators” has been launched in Viet Nam. Funded by the Government of Germany, the project is supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and implemented by Viet Nam Academy of Agricultural Science, with technical assistance from FAO over two years.

Through the use of GBEP sustainable indicators for bio-energy, the project will provide technical support and capacity building to Viet Nam to monitor environmental and socio-economic impacts of bio-energy production and use, particularly actual contributions to greenhouse gas emission reductions by replacing fossil fuels and traditional biomass use, while harnessing socio-economic co-benefits. Moreover, the project will contribute to strengthening the ability of Viet Nam to adapt to the negative impacts of climate change, as it provides the basis for better planning and management of resources, including soil, water and land use.

FAO HELPS VIETNAM

E N H A N C E

BIO-ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Viet NamNo 304 Kim Ma Road, Ba Dinh District, Ha Noi, Viet NamWebsite: http://www.fao.org/vietnam - Email: FAO-VN@fao.orgTel: (84 4) 38600100 Fax: (84 4) 37265520

Strong and secure forest tenures for forest-dependent communities in Viet Nam are a necessary condition

for improved income and sustainable livelihoods. Strengthening forest tenure systems in the country is necessary if forest-dependent communities are to benefit from forests and forestry activities, as weak and contested tenures commonly results in conflict.

To address this issue, FAO has prepared a set of voluntary guidelines, ‘Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests’, to improve governance of land, fisheries and forest tenures. The key objective of the guidelines is to identify and recognize the legitimate owners of these resources and safeguard their rights.

Taking the principles of the voluntary guidelines as a reference point, FAO’s Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) rolled out a project in Viet Nam in September 2014 named “Strengthening Forest Tenures for Sustaining Livelihoods and Generating Income”, that is also being piloted in Cambodia and Nepal.

Following the first multi-stakeholder policy dialogue in 2015 with Government to discuss forest land tenures and relationships to livelihoods and income in TCP pilot countries, a second dialogue was held in Ha Noi on 11 April to develop a more concrete action plan, implement strategies and clarify roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder. The action plan will enhance commitment to address policy and capacity gaps related to forest land tenures and livelihoods in the country.

NATIONAL FOREST ASSESSMENT PROJECT COMES ALIVE

FAO is continuing to safeguard Viet Nam’s forests with the bridging activity for the National Forest Assessment (NFA) project launched on 22 April 2016 in Ha Noi.

The first phase of the project, under the FAO Global Programme “Sustainable Forest Management in Changing Climate”, has just been completed and the bridging activities have the potential to be instrumental towards a second phase of funding for the next cycle of the Viet Nam National Forest Assessment. The bridging activity was launched at the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute, which is the implementing

project counterpart. The overall objective of the targeted support bridging project is to promote and manage the NFA project’s phase one outcomes, to prepare for the implementation of the National Forest Inventory (NFI) during 2016-2020 and enhance capacity building for implementing the functions and duties of the institute.

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Strengthening forest tenures for sustaining livelihoods and generating income

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